Ink Dries on Miami's Largest 2013 Office Lease

MIAMI—Shutts & Bowen signed a new lease for 69,155 square feet at the Southeast Financial Center. Shutts' relocation within Miami's CBD marks the largest lease signed to date in Miami's CBD for 2013.

Shutts inked 15-year lease for three floors in the building, which is located 200 S. Biscayne Boulevard. The law firm will move in on Nov. 1, 2015.

“We are excited about this move because it will allow us to tailor our office space for our ever-evolving business and technology needs,” says Joseph D. Bolton, firm wide managing partner at Shutts. “This will be a complete remodel with a new state-of-the-art conferencing center. We aim not just to grow with the times, but to stay ahead of the curve.”

A fixture in Miami since its founding in 1910, the law firm will move from its present location across the street at The Miami Center at 201 S. Biscayne, where it was one of the building's first tenants in 1984. Shutts currently occupies 68,787 square feet on the 14th through 16th floors.

“Miami is one of a handful of global 'edge' cities, and we are planning this office to maintain top-tier service that befits a first-rank international business center,” says Kevin D. Cowan, co-chairman of the Real Estate Department at Shutts. “Our clients now come from around the world, and we are tailoring our long-term plans to anticipate our clients' future needs and demands for service.”

Cresa Partners represented Shutts in the deal. Jones Lang LaSalle repped Southeast Financial Center. David Preve, a managing partner at Cresa, tells GlobeSt.com there are many reasons why law firm relocate office space, including to upgrade and design to new law firm standards.

“One of Shutts' officing goals was to having high-end client focused space all in one area—conferencing center and reception area—practice areas designed to be smaller, more efficient and allow for more collaborative work, and creating a showcase environment for their heavily-touted and highly skilled class of younger partners,” Preve says. “With the ratio of secretaries decreasing and paralegals increasing, the space needs to be more flexible.”

Shutts has long placed a high priority on information technology, speed, and security. It was one of the first law firms to link directly to the NAP of the Americas—the hemisphere's Internet backbone a little more than a half mile to the northwest—and the firm continues to strive for leadership in uninterrupted, protected client service.

“The 40th through 42nd floors that Shutts leased at SEFC has floor to ceiling glass and breathtaking views,” Barbara Liberatore Black, a managing principal at Cresa South Florida, tells GlobeSt.com. “Considering this excellent market opportunity and the fact that Shutts has been in its existing space on the 14th through 16th floors at the Miami Center since the early '80s, this was the opportune time for Shutts to upgrade to the highest level of appearance and efficiency.”

With seven offices in the State of Florida and one office in Europe, the firm has about 250 attorneys, 60 of which were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2014. For its part, the number of law firm tenants at Southeast Financial Center has increased to 24 which span 431,588 square feet of space, nine of which are currently listed on the 2013 Am Law 200.

“With law firms demanding the most square footage for office space of any industry in Miami at 376,700 square feet as of December 1, 2013, we are pleased to have successfully signed more than 157,000 square feet of renowned law firms within the last four weeks at Southeast Financial Center,” says Donald Cartwright, senior vice president with JLL. Cartwright and JLL vice president Nicole Vassilaros are the exclusive leasing agents for Southeast Financial Center.